Abstract painter of melting flowers

Jeanne Dentzel currently has her show “Flowers: Seen & Unseen” up at the Santa Barbara Tennis Club. In it she explores the classic still life subject through an abstract painter’s eye, trying not to capture reality but to subvert the niceties of flowers and vases. To me, these paintings ride a fine line between ecstasy and nausea.

I sat down for a chat with the Santa Barbara artist to talk about her method, New York art school, and her previous life working at a set designer on many of John Hughes’ seminal ’80s films: Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and more.

Topics discussed include:
Her journey into and out of abstract art
Her family and her home life growing up
The Rapala Lure
Nancy Carlson, her high school friend
Moving to New York and Williamsburg
Moving from painting into set design
Meeting Howie Deutch and working on “Pretty in Pink”
How she met her husband, David Dentzel, of the carousel family
“You don’t need to be the starving artist”
The end of the mural economy
The curation of this show by Susan Tibbles

You can find Jeanne Dentzel at her website.

Her show “Flowers: Seen & Unseen” is up at the Santa Barbara Tennis Club until June 5. Website here.

Here’s the Pretty in Pink record store set:

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